DIGITALIZATION AS A NEW REALITY IN UKRAINE TODAY IN THE ECONOMY

Abstract

The article provides a theoretical overview of the emergence of a new economic era – the digital economy. The features and prerequisites for the development of the digital economy are highlighted. The concept of the digital economy, its characteristics and features are revealed. The author substantiates the transition to the digital economy, which is a "fingerprint" of the transition from the third to the fourth industrial revolution, while the third industrial revolution represented the transition from analog electronic and mechanical devices to digital ones, and the fourth industrial revolution is digital. The author analyzes the peculiarities of economic modernization from the end of the 20th century to the beginning of the 21st century, namely, the large-scale replacement of assembly lines and tools with automated mechanisms. Different approaches to the definition of the digital economy, as well as prospects and trends of its development in Ukraine are presented. The institutional and economic prerequisites for the transformation of the world economy on the basis of digital technologies are considered. The author of the 1995 book "Digital", Nicholas Negroponte, who was the founder of the One Laptop per Child Association and described the digital economy as "bits instead of atoms", is analyzed. The article analyzes the concept of digital economy formulated by Nicholas Negroponte, within the framework of such a metaphor as "the transition from processing atoms to processing bits". Based on Thomas Mesenburg, the author identifies three key components of the concept of "Digital Economy", namely: e-commerce infrastructure, including hardware, software, telecommunications, networks, and human capital; e-business, which is a business model where business processes, information exchange and commercial transactions are automated in the form of information systems; and e-commerce – a type of economy where the key factors and means of production are digital data (binary, information, etc.) The concept of e-business is explained. The key technologies of digital transformation are listed. It is substantiated that digital technologies change the operating model of enterprises, namely, the methods and procedures for implementing corporate strategy in everyday activities, especially in the banking and telecommunications sectors, which increases the efficiency of investments and identifies new opportunities in the market. The author characterizes that the digital economy is characterized by several features that distinguish it from the traditional economy. The author studies the world experience which shows that the level of development of digital information technologies is becoming one of the key factors of economic competitiveness. The average annual values of the additional contribution of growth factors to the added value of economic sectors as a result of digitalization for the period 2019-2030 are analyzed. The contribution of the digital economy to GDP and its components, % of GDP in 2023, is analyzed. The challenges and threats to the development of society in the context of the digital economy are summarized. The economic effects of the digitalization of the economy are identified. The problems and prospects for the use of digital technologies in Ukraine are identified.